Mega Sena or Mega Scam?

In Brazil, 2013 seems to begin a little less transparent than anyone could hope for. The social media is spreading news that seems to confirm the shaky credibility of the official drawings for a lottery known as the Mega Sena. It’s a pick-six numbers game that has been awarding the biggest money prizes in Brazil — especially the one that takes place on New Year’s Eve. In 2012, the Mega Sena awarded a record 244 millions reais, more or less 120 millions dollars. Scams related to the Mega Sena have been rumored for years. So far, no smoking gun. But now… that has apparently changed. It was December 15, 2012 when someone posted anonymously on Orkut that the New Year’s Eve Mega Sena was going to be awarded to someone in Aparecida de Goiania. The city is less than two hours by car from Brasilia, the nation’s capital. The still unkown person’s complete statement is, QUOTE: I should not be saying this here, but my uncle is one of the directors responsible for the New Year’s Eve Mega Sena. He has told me that, this year, the winner is going to be from Aparecida de Goiania. You can print it. END QUOTE. In effect, one of the three winning tickets has been bought in Aparecida de Goiania. You can check the entire Orkut forum where the post appears typing the link shown on your screen. The link will take you to the specific page where the person made the statement, but you can navigate throught the entire forum from there. And you can check one of the recent press reports about the results of the New Year’s Eve Mega Sena by typing this link on your browser. No one knows yet if there will be any investigation by Caixa Economica Federal, officially responsible for conducting the lottery drawigs and awarding prizes, as well as if any explanation whatsoever will be given regarding this really strange situation. Right now, that’s the million dollar question. For CNN’s iReport, I’m Claudio Lessa, in Brasilia, Brazil.

For our international users, please be aware that the information you submit when registering for our services is collected in the United States of America. In addition to being subject to our Privacy Policy, the collection, storage, and use of your data will be subject to U.S. laws and regulations, which may be different from the laws and regulations of your home country. By registering for this service, you are consenting to this collection, storage, and use.

Create your screen name

Please create a screen name. This screen name will be associated with your
iReport stories and comments on this site.
It cannot be changed once you make a selection.